Oliver Green

Percy Oliver Valentine Green AFC (born June 16, 1920 in Purley , Surrey ) is a former British Air Force officer in the Royal Air Force , who last served as Air Commodore Commander between 1971 and 1973 as AOC ( Air Officer Commanding ) Commander of the Air Cadets and in command of the Air Training Corps (ATC) was. During the Second World War he won several dogfights against aircraft of the German Air Force and was later awarded the Air Force Cross (AFC), among other things .

Life

Pilot training and World War II

After attending Whitgift School in Croydon in June 1938, Green began basic aviation training at No. 13 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School RAF and was subsequently accepted into the RAF on August 20, 1938 as a contract soldier ( Short Service Commission ) with the rank of lieutenant ( pilot officer ). He completed pilot training at No. 11 Flying Training School RAF on the military airfield RAF Shawbury and, after its completion in March 1939. Pilot in with Gloster Gladiator - Double Decker - fighters equipped No. 3 Squadron RAF at RAF Kenley Air Force Base . After the airfield was closed shortly afterwards due to expansion work, he was appointed as a pilot at No. 1, which was equipped with Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft . 54 Squadron RAF was transferred to the RAF Hornchurch Air Force Base.

Air combat missions in Sudan

A short time later, on May 16, 1939, Green was transferred to No. 112 Squadron RAF when this was assembled on board the aircraft carrier HMS Argus in Portsmouth harbor for disembarkation for Egypt . After arriving in Egypt on May 25, 1939, he was a pilot of the B- swarm of this squadron and transferred with this unit on June 2, 1940 to Sudan . On July 31, 1940, Flying Officer RB "Dicky" Whittington, Pilot Officer Hugh Chapman and he flew an offensive patrol to Tesseney in search of three newly arrived Italian Fiat CR.42 fighters that could not be found. Nevertheless, the British patrol shot at the runway and then landed for refueling at the Kashm El Gerba airfield, from where they flew back to their base in Gedaref . On August 1, 1940 he and Flying Officer Whittington, Pilot Officer Chapman and he flew on a new patrol flight after a single Italian Caproni Ca.133 reconnaissance aircraft was sighted in the airspace of the British base. He was the first to mount and immediately made out the enemy aircraft about 150 meters above him when he was just 450 meters above sea level. He followed it for almost 80 kilometers before he succeeded in shooting down the enemy machine in twelve attacks and 400 hits, with the three crew members surviving its crash landing. The search for the Italian soldiers by a Vickers Type 264 Valentia - cargo aircraft but was unsuccessful. It was not until August 5, 1940 that the seriously wounded radio operator of the Italian aircraft was spotted by a Vickers Vincent light bomber , before two Italian officers and one soldier were later captured and taken to Khartoum by train . It was found that the pilot of the downed aircraft was the commander of his unit.

On August 31, 1940, Green was transferred from No. 112 Squadron RAF pilot with the newly established K-Swarm in Sudan and promoted to first lieutenant ( flying officer ) on September 3, 1940 . In the early afternoon of November 21, 1940, two Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 “Sparviero” bombers attacked Port Sudan . The light cruiser HMS Carlisle returned fire, while Green and Pilot Officer GB Smither attacked and hit the two Italian bombers with two Gloster Gladiator fighters at an altitude of around 4,900 meters. However, Green's plane was also hit and caught fire. One of the Italian bombers was badly hit and returned with three wounded. The other bomber had made an emergency landing in Karet near Elghena after evaluating Italian radio messages. The No. Bristol Blenheim bombers sent out by 14 Squadron RAF could not locate it, however, as it actually made it to its home base.

On December 9, 1940, a group of seven Gloster Gladiator fighters and a Vickers Wellesley bomber group of the K swarm flew from Port Said to Heliopolis to fight No. 112 Squadron reinforce RAF for the upcoming Operation Compass . Green and Flying Officer Whittington arrived at Sidi Haneish Airfield on December 12, 1940, while Flight Lieutenant John Scoular and Sergeant EN Woodward landed on December 16, 1940. At the same time, on December 16, 1940, Flying Officer Jack Hamlyn joined this reinforcement unit. The K swarm formed the basis of the No. 205 Squadron RAF .

Use in North Africa

However, Green was promoted to captain ( Flight Lieutenant (WS) ) on May 8, 1941 and as aviation commander to No. 73 Squadron RAF was transferred to North Africa , which at the time was equipped with Hawker Hurricane fighters. On June 9, 1941, he led a group of four Hawker Hurricane aircraft to attack the south of Gazala while another group attacked the north of the town. The operation was planned and carried out in a rush. The Martin Maryland bombers intended for navigation could not be found in the dark clouds over Sid Haneish, whereupon Green ordered his group to carry out a solo attack on his target. They managed to fly around 320 kilometers in the dark, with only one of its planes having to turn back prematurely. On arrival over the town's tarmac at daybreak, they managed to bombard the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aircraft of the German Air Force and Fiat G.50 fighter aircraft of the Italian Aeronautica Militare stationed there . Green found six fires on the ground. Subsequently, his group was pursued by other Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft, where he succeeded in shooting down a machine over the Mediterranean Sea after it had attacked Sergeant Bob Laing's aircraft. Some time later he was the only one in his group of three to arrive in Sidi Barrani . Sergeant Laing and Pilot Officer Greville Tovey had been shot down by the Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft belonging to Jagdgeschwader 27 from Oberleutnant Wolfgang Redlich and Sergeant Günter Steinhausen .

On June 15, 1941, there were further aerial battles with German units after Green and Pilot Officer "Robin" Johnston discovered a Messerschmitt Bf 110 - destroyed during a reconnaissance flight over Sallum . Both pilots opened fire on the German machine, which crashed behind the German lines. However, Green's plane was also damaged. On the morning of July 7, 1941, six Hawker Hurricane planes of No. 73 Squadron RAF under the command of Flight Lieutenant Aidan Crawley launched an attack on several enemy military airfields. The first thing that happened was the attack on Sidi Aziez. On leaving this destination, Flying Officer MP Wareham found that only three other aircraft from the British attack group were accompanying him, but on the other hand numerous columns of smoke were rising above this Axis air force base . The four remaining Hawker Hurricane planes then attacked Gambut, but were exposed to violent anti-aircraft defenses . Wareham was able to determine that one of the aircraft of his association crashed about 25 kilometers east of Gambut, while he himself had to land after an anti- aircraft gun hit . The other British fighters of the pilots Flight Lieutenant Crawley, Pilot Officer Stephen John Leach, Pilot Officer Rodney William Kinkross White and Sergeant Gordon Archibald Jupp, and Flight Lieutenant Green did not return to their base.

Captivity

After seven days, Green was captured by German soldiers in the desert and initially interned in Darna , Athens and Thessaloniki before arriving in Dulag Luft in Oberstedten in the High Taunus in August 1941 . There he managed to escape from the hospital, but was arrested again after a week. After spending almost a year in the officers' camp Oflag VI B in Warburg , he was transferred to Oflag XXI B in Schubin before he was transferred to Stalag Luft III near Sagan in March 1943 . In January 1945 the camp was evacuated because of the approaching Soviet Red Army . After the so-called “long march”, he and the other prisoners of war finally reached the main camp III A Luckenwalde , which was captured in April 1945 by a Soviet tank division. In May 1945 he finally managed to escape from the camp guarded by the Red Army and shortly afterwards he reached US Army troops near Magdeburg . He then flew with other prisoners of war via Brussels to England, which he reached on May 9, 1945.

Staff officer in the post-war period

Subsequently, Green was promoted to Major ( Squadron Leader ), the promotion being backdated to August 1944. In October 1945 he was transferred for further training to the air transport command ( RAF Transport Command ). On April 15, 1947 he was accepted as a professional soldier ( Permanent Commission ) in the RAF, where he was awarded the rank of captain ( Flight Lieutenant ) with effect from September 1, 1945 and later with effect from December 1, 1942 . He was then in June 1947 the with Douglas Dakota - transport aircraft equipped No. 187 Squadron RAF . In July 1947 he was in command of a squadron of this squadron in Italy , from where he undertook transport flights to the British military missions in the parts of Eastern Europe occupied by the Red Army . The swarm was named No. 238 Squadron RAF became an independent squadron and relocated to Schwechat in Lower Austria , before the unit returned to Great Britain in November 1947. Between November 1947 and October 1948 he was an officer in the headquarters of No. 38 Group RAF and was awarded the Air Force Cross (AFC) during this time . He then became an aviation commander and chief test pilot at the RAF Seletar air base .

In December 1948, Green became the commanding officer of the Douglas Dakota transport aircraft-equipped No. 110th Squadron RAF at the RAG Changi air force base, which was also relocated to the RAF Seletar base in June 1949. He then took over the post of commander of No. 70 Squadron RAF at the RAF Kabrit military airfield in Egypt , which was equipped with new Vickers Valetta transport aircraft in June 1950 . In May 1951 he returned to Great Britain and became an aviation safety officer at the headquarters of the Air Force Coastal Command ( RAF Coastal Command ).

After his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel ( Wing Commander ) in January 1954, Green was a liaison officer of the RAF on the staff of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Command Channel of NATO ACCHAN ( Allied Command Channel ). He then took over the post of commander of the RAF Negombo Air Force Base on Ceylon in August 1956 and then completed additional training for jet pilots at the RAF Flying College at the RAF Manby military airfield from May 1959 , where he worked on jet-powered fighter planes of the Gloster Meteor and Hawker Hunter types as well trained on the jet-propelled bomber English Electric Canberra .

In January 1960, Green was promoted to Colonel ( Group Captain ) and appointed Commander of the RAF Chivenor Air Force Base , which at that time was responsible for training on Hawker Hunter fighter aircraft . 228 Operational Conversion Unit RAF . In September 1962 he took on the role of senior officer of the RAF in South Australia , where he worked on weapons research and development at RAAF Edinburgh Field, a base of the Royal Australian Air Force . After his return to Great Britain, he attended a course at Imperial Defense College in London from January 1965 .

Promotion to Air Commodore and retirement

In February 1966, Greens was promoted to the Air Commodore . As such, he took over on March 7, 1966 as the successor to Air Commodore Derek Hodgkinson the function of commander of the RAF Staff College, Andover at Andover Air Force Base. In this application he was until his replacement by Air Commodore John Jackson on October 10, 1968. He himself had already in August 1968 his new position as British military representative in the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Forces in Europe SHAPE ( Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe ) started.

Green himself last acted as the successor to Air Commodore John Nicol Stacey from July 17, 1971 until his replacement by Group Captain Thomas Blackman on October 13, 1973 as AOC ( Air Officer Commanding ) in command of the Air Cadets and as commander of the Air Training Corps ( ATC), a youth organization supported by the Ministry of Defense and the RAF to train young people for the air force. In November 1973 he left active military service prematurely at his own request.

After his retirement, Green was named Executive Director of Woburn Golf and Country Club by John Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford , and remained there until January 1985. He then co-founded the recreational sports company Green, Spier and Partners , before he did moved to Australia in January 1987 .

publication

• Mezze; Little bites of flying, living and golfing , autobiography, Ryan Publishing, 1999

Web links

• Air Commodore Percy Oliver Valentine Green, RAF no.41015 in Biplane Fighter Aces

Individual evidence

1. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34548, HMSO, London, September 6, 1938, p. 5678 ( PDF , accessed February 29, 2016, English).
2. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34642, HMSO, London, July 4, 1939, p. 4579 ( PDF , accessed February 29, 2016, English).
3. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34960, HMSO, London, October 4, 1940, p. 5833 ( PDF , accessed February 29, 2016, English).
4. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 37930, HMSO, London, April 15, 1947, p. 1669 ( PDF , accessed February 29, 2016, English).
5. ↑ London Gazette . No. 38311, HMSO, London, June 10, 1948, p. 3394 ( PDF , accessed February 29, 2016, English).
6. ^ RAF Staff College, Andover on Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organization